Archaon, Endtimes, Wrathmongers and Skullreapers, all in one week!

This weeks White Dwarf

New Wrathmongers

and new Skullreapers. Such amazing naming convention...

The final installment of the End of Times!

Also on limited edition

Skullreaper rules

Wrathmonger rules

A quick glance at the rules and it seams that Skullreapers would be the better build. Same stats as the Wrathmongers, but 10 points cheaper once equipped with ensorcelled weapons. Wrathmongers have the better first round on combat with strength 6, but both are equal there after. 

Putrid Blightking rules/pictures leaked - updated

Papa Nurgle has arrived!

So it appears they are a new WoC entry, and are Infantry on a 40mm base?

Actual pictures to come soon I hope... Pre release this Saturday

edit. pictures are floating about now as below...

Rather uninspiring IMO... there no Morghasts or Nagash...

Ouch. look at em prices!

End of Times Volume II due after Dark Eldar

Rumours are rife Papa Nurgle is about to visit us in Volume II of the End of Times. I blogged last month with some musings about the series of events that may happen in Warhammer

Rick was reported to want to "advance the timeline", kill off several special characters and produce a set of four (or eight) books detailing the end of times. Nurgle was to attack the empire in Tamurkham, Tzeentch was invading Lustria, Slannesh was getting stuck into Ulthuan, and Khornes hounds where at the gates of Naggaroth. Sounds all to familiar dosn't it.

The Nagash book confirms Khorne forces headed to fight the Dark Elves (Valkira) and Nurgle heading to the empire. 

Still on target to being a rewrite of Tamarhkan. Will we see our plastic Greater Daemons soon? Will they stand up to the competition from Creature Caster?

One things for sure it is really shaping up to be a complete make-over for Warhammer

The End of Times: Whats next?

Warning! This post contains massive amounts of grandiose speculation!

So, as most of you will know by now, unless your name is Patrick, Nagash has returned in all his glory!

The release will be interesting to watch unfold. We already know there is at least one more week of models to be released, thanks to the early leak of the September issue of Warhammer Visions. But what next?

Lets take a look at 40k's latest campaign. Sanctus Reach combined a multitude of host armies coming together in a 2 volume campaign that encompassed most of the 40k universe. It included army specific expansion books for Orks, Astra Militarum and Space Wolves. The release was done over a month long period with little insight to what the next wave might have been. It didnt however include many new models for release, but concentrated on formations for recently updated armies.

So what do we know about Warhammer: Nagash. We know we are getting a 2 book volume which contains a campaign focusing on the return of Nagash and the premise around the event. We know we are getting at least 4 kits: Nagash, Arkhan/Neferata/Manfred triple kit, Morghast Harbingers and Spirit hosts (although these may turn out to be built from the other kits).

But who is Nagash fighting? Well the story line basically goes along the lines (in its most simplistic version) of Nagash has been bought back by Manfred to unit the Undead to fight a Chaos incursion. Chaos...

And this leads to my speculation, that we may indeed see a second volume based around Chaos, which would potentially include the release of the 4 new Greater Daemon kits frequently rumored... What better way to introduce a large number of monstrous plastic kits! I would suspect that the volume would be a similar 2 book binding, with a united Chaos Legions list like back in the old days. Hands up who remembers the Chaos Boxed set of 5th edition!

This release style is unheard of in Warhammer Fantasy, but the precedent has been set by 40k already. This would also tie into the much lambasted rumors of 9th edition having volumes that covered a range of armies instead of an individual (which I dont buy personally). it would go a long way to cover the rumors that point to it being true/false which we have heard from several sources. 

So, my speculation is that the Nagash release may be more than just a 2 week Undead splash, but in fact the beginning of a more comprehensive release schedule. September was rumoured to be a big fantasy release (some claimed 9th edition) but I think this fits the bill a little better. This is indeed The End of Times! name says it all!

Time will tell...

NZTC Recap - Day 1

So a few weeks ago New Zealands WHFB community descended on an unsuspecting hall in our capital city for the first inarguable New Zealand Team Championship, and what a success it was!

Huge thanks to Pete for organising this event!

I was invited to attend by some friends in Christchurch, on the condition I would captain the team. Alan, Damon, Mike and I rocked into the capital with Empire, Lizardmen, Orcs and Goblins, and my new army Chaos Dwarfs. 

Our army composition was not really based around any great strategy as a team. It was more a case of Mike was bringing Orcs and Goblins regardless, Alan only had Empire, Damon wanted to bring Wood Elves, leaving me to fill any perceived gaps. Mike had a list that he refused to change, not for a lack of trying by the rest of the team! Alan only managed to paint up 4 chickens, and after some discussion at Guardcon last year, Damon opted for pink lizards! over the woodies. This left our team with two armies which where more conservative in approach, and one that should be a good kicker for short wins, (despite its lack of Doom Divers...). We really needed something that could chase the big wins, so I took the opportunity to try out my Chaos Dwarfs. I geared the build to specifically take on Daemons, as I suspected most teams would roll out triple letter lists. It gave the build some inherent difficulties playing cannons, which also meant avoiding Ogres, which would be another big contender.

So Round one we drew Cut the Mustard. We thought this was favourable to us, but the one problem was the Ogres. 2 cannons meant the CD needed to avoid Ogres. However the other three armies that was a favourable matchup. 

We ended up with the following:

Chaos Dwarfs vs Vampire Counts

Orcs & Goblins vs Daemons

Empire vs Ogres

Lizards vs Wood Elves

Mike got a solid victory going 12-8 over the Daemons. Damon scrapped out a 13-7 win despite not being able to finish everything off. Alan got overrun by the Ogres 0-20. We really thought he had the big high strength blocks to win combats. I pulled a lucky 18-2 win over the VC. I managed to double flank the infantry blocks and used the artillery to decimate them before wiping them out on the charge. A good round overall and a nice first outing for the Evil Stunties (it was my first game ever with them!)

We finish the round 43-37. We where looking for more here but didnt expect the complete collapse of the Empire/Ogre match. 

Second round was drawn and one of the harder matchups came to fore. We got the Nerdymen and what was going to be not the best round. My Chaos Dwarfs needed to avoid Rory's VC, his bus and general would just steamroll my entire army by itself. Nobody else wanted to face the Daemons so that was the perfect match. Mike got the Warriors which was a good match, and we threw Alan to the Ogres again. Hopefully this time he would have some better luck and get a draw which his army should be capable of. This left Damon to the VC, and with lore of Metal and being able to pass off miscast to Rory's lord, we thought we had got a good round of matchups.

Chaos Dwarfs vs Daemons

Lizardmen vs Vampire Counts

Orcs & Goblins vs High Elves

Empire vs Ogres

Once again Alan had a terrible game against the Orges. He really needed a second unit of Chickens. Some more terrible luck but managed to conserve 1 point with a 1-19 loss. Mike played a great game again and only went down 9-11. With some doom divers he could have collected a 12-8 win easy, well not according to him anyway. Damon's stratergy collapsed and the Knight Bus got through unmolested. I had a fairly easy game with a really favourable matchup. Daemons de-materialised to the artillery, I held up the blocks and worked one at a time, finishing them off with double charges by the Taurus and Kdaai. 19-1 to me

We finished round to going down 35-45. Not to bad, definitely could have been worse. If we had the right build (read Doom Divers) we would have tried to get Orcs vs the VC, giving Lizards the Ogres. 

Round three and half way through the long day. Kapiti Krushers pop up on our radar and another challenge for our team. We angled my Evil Stunties to the Daemons again, nobody wanting to take on the triple letter hoard but me. We tried to get Mike the mirror match, and put him and Alan up vs the Orcs. Damon took the match vs the Darkies in the end

Chaos Dwarfs vs Daemons

Lizardmen vs Dark Elves

Orcs & Goblins vs Warriors of Chaos 

Empire vs Orcs & Goblins

All in all a good draw. Only thing we really wanted to change was swapping the matches for Mike and Damon. Cant have everything go our own way however. I had another great game, controlling the board from the beginning of the game and working on one letter hoard after another. 19-1 win to me. Damon had a terrible turn of events in the last turn or so, with a critical combat that should have been in his favour turning against him with him going down 3-17 instead of the opposite number. Massive last turn swings thanks to mindrazor... Mike didn't have any luck in his match either, with the Warriors of Chaos being to fast for his army and taking the flanks and the eventual victory 1-19. Alan on the other hand took a steady hand and notched up 14-6 win against the Orcs. 

So this round finished with our team losing the round by three points 37-43. Thanks mindrazor! Not.

So we go into the last round of the very long day. We havn't gone down big in any round but havn't managed to climb out from practical draws. Seams we are not the only ones. The team games have a away of evening things out it appears. Team OMEN is next in our crosshairs and we are looking to get this one right. Once again I looked to avoid the VC list with its Vampire of Doom, and the Empire list with all its cannons. We thought the OnG would be a good match here despite the lack of Doom Divers. We aimed to get the mirror match with Alan. The round broke down to the follwoing:

Chaos Dwarfs vs High Elves

Lizardmen vs Dark Elves

Orcs & Goblins vs Vampire Counts

Empire vs Empire

I was not looking forward to this. Not only was it the 4th game of the day, I had managed only 5 hours sleep the last night. I turtled and threw some dice about not expecting much, as the High Elf match was not good for my list. But when James failed a few charges, and I managed to kill his dragon with rockets, things looked up a little. My Infernal Guard dealt to his BSB on eagle who was left to fend for himself thanks to the failed charges, and my hobgoblin archers shot the High Elf general that was now dragonless after fending off eagles in combat! Not only that, James fluffed the white lions combat vs the K'daai, allowing it to got on a rampage. I still don't know how I got a 19-1 win. Damn lucky dice. Alan and Joels Empire off resulted in a predictable 9-11, with Mike leaping to new strengths pulling a nice win from the VC 13-7. Damon discovered the Cold One Bus was immune to his magic but despite than managed to get the 11-9 win. 

The round finished as a nice, although unexpected win 52-28 to us. Great way to finish the day. We had gone in thinking 40 would be nice. Luck still has a lot to do with this game 

So day one ended with us on a grand total of 167 points. I think this was top half of the table. Not to bad considering our lists. Like I said I thought we would be gunning for 5th to 6th place and was happy to with our first day haul. We headed off home very tired and hungry. We all had a sneaking suspicion we would be playing the Von Trapp family next round...

More WoC Leaks

They are coming in thick and fast now as we get closer to release day. 
Here is some of the stuff making the rounds on the interwebs atm:

Mark of Khorne; frenzy
Mark of Tzeentch; +1 ward save
Mark of Slaanesh; Auto pass fear, terror and panic
Mark of Nugrle; Flat -1 to hit in close combat

Marks are on a per model basis

Mutant regen is gone (except throgg), and troll vomit is no longer magical, same cost
Trolls are 35 points each

Chaos ogres gain impact hits same rules as Ogres

Dragon ogres gain halberd option, T4, W4 60 points, Great weapons/Halberds +8 points Save 4+

Forsaken are basically the same, same point cost, with a chart of rollable USR, ranging from asf, poison, etc
MofK on Forsaken is hatred, MofS is Swiftstride

Eye of the gods are all stat increases, except for 12 which turns characters, and chosen champ into Daemon Prince, units gain stubburn, and 2 is spawn.

Valkia always gets +1 S when she rolls on eye of the gods

Sigvald always rolls +1 A on eotgs, and gained T5

Chaos warriors same statline, a point cheaper, but Halberds are 3 points, Marks are 1-2 points per model

Warhounds count towards core, can upgrade to get poison and vanguard

Chariots are core

Hellcannon gains 5+ ward, everything else is the same, 210 points

Chaos lord stays the same, mounts change a little manticore for example, and marks are somewhat cheaper, mundane gear drops in price, can be mounted on a Altar or War, as can most other characters

Chaos sorcerers, lores as rumoured, same statline.
Chaos lord statline, ws9, S6, 5+ ward, Magical attacks, Unbreakable , must take a mark Khorne is +1s on charge, Nurgle is -1 to hit, Slaanesh is armour piercing?, and Tzeentch is re-roll 1's on ward and channel attempts. Unmarked can choose Lore from Shadow, Metal, Fire and Death

New stuff:

Chimera, SofM stats with a 4+ armour, for X points gains regeneration, for Y points gains s4 flaming breath weapon, tail attack has rules d3 attacks that are +1 to hit in rear. Special choice and taken unmounted

Slaughterbrute is basically just a attack machine, bound uses are lord or hero ws, and opperates as normal S7  t5, 4+ armour) or can be unbound in which case its frenzied (which it can't lose), and Random movement 2d6, can buy 2 more s5 attacks. Unbound movement is also random direction. Becomes unbound if master dies

Mutalith Vortex beast, less killy bound spell's effect is roll a d6, 1-5 are d6 T test + effect, 6 is whole unit + effect. D6+2 attacks, regen 5+, scaly skin 4+

On Magic really great spells basically all made to turn the army into a killing machine, some of my favorites are 2 slaanesh spells 2 and 6 are hexes that give the unit ASL, and random movement d6, Treason is no inspiring presences or hold your ground, Phantasmagoria and Pavane, are both there. Nurgle has a lot of spells that are hexes and augments depending on who you use them on. Curse of the leper gives +d3 T to allies or -d3 to enemies. None are AoE if I recall correctly. Gateway on a 10+ for S is 3d6 hits, instead of 2d6

Skullcrushers get regular MC stats, Juggers have 3 attacks at s6 on the charge, Riders buy lances for 3 or EW for 5. Juggers have magical attacks and are only +2 to armour. 75 points each

Daemonswords is gone, Magic items are if I recall correctly, Hellfire sword, Sword of change, The nurgle mace, helm of many eyes is now armour, a slaanesh item that gives you an additional attack for every wound you cause (might be a gift actually), The chalice is pretty meh to be honest. 

Eye of the gods is all stat increases +1 bs is 3, +1 attack, +1s, +1 I, etc. Chosen get to roll once for the entire unit when they deploy. This is the only time EotG can apply to an entire unit!

Gifts are mostly cheap, there is one where you trade your attacks for double strength, flaming +5 ward against flaming, poison + 5 ward against poison, scally skin, third eye is back but it doesn't steal spells (reroll ward saves of result 1), an item that gives you +1 spell and +1 to channel.

Oh glean magic, lore of tzeentch, your oppenent loses a wizard level, and a randomly determined spell, which you then gain.

War shrine is a bound spell, chariot with no impact hits, and doesn't take dangerous terrain or have swift stride

d3 units are given a roll on eotg. Units within 12" get to pick 2 dice out of 3D6 for the roll

Banner of rage is mofK only makes frenzy unlose able, if a character with the banner joins a unit they gain frenzy,I'm pretty sure blasted standard is also there can't recall all what it did to be honest.

There is a slaanesh banner or item that lets the unit roll 1d6 for Ld.

Giant is 200 points, and mark of Slaanesh is +1 I, Nurgle gives +1T

EotG: 2 is take a ld test if you pass your -1 Ld and stupid, fail and your a spawn or removed, Stubburn, as is LD, 12 is daemon prince, 7 is a re-roll for that turn, everything else is a permanent killing stat increase.

Marauders are 6 points basic, flails +2, great weapons +3

A unit of 3 skullcrushers w/ lances at under 250 points puts out 9 S 6 attacks, 9 S6 magical attacks and 3 S 5 magical attacks, have a 1+ armour save, and highly resistant to test or die spells, I'd say they are well costed, especially when compared against chaos knights. 
Confirmed they are now  75 points each, with upgrades for lances (2 points) and EHW (3 points)

Juggers are T4, 3 wounds

Chaos knights stay the same, Command are normalized, and marks are per model, must buy EWs.

Sounds like a lot of balancing has happened. No more Puppet! and no more 3++ save Tzeentch Chosen. Looks like there will be a bit more variation in WoC lists now, which is much needed IMO. 

Its interesting the changes to Skullcrushers so soon after the WD release. 

Looks like they have some nice new big toys

WOC release - Movers and Shakers edition

So some interesting observations have been made with the new WOC stuff going up for pre-order on the GW website

There is a few movers and shakers in the WOC force organisation

Forsaken are listed under core
Chariots are also now core
The chariot beast option is special
As is the re-release of the SoM Chimera - wait! an unmounted monster in special (yay for 5th edition)
The new big gribblies are sitting under rare
And rejoice, the Hellcannon is still there (some people where worried it would be cut)
Also, interestingly the war altar has moved into special....

November White Dwarf Update

Further to my previous post here, I can now confirm that New Zealand's (and thus Australia's) White Dwarf does not come with the new Chaos Warrior inserts depicting the new rules.

A PDF has been created and provided to LGS for them to distribute to their customers that purchase a White Dwarf. The insert is to be distributed in our territories with the December issue apparently.

GW won't be making the PDF available for download from their website either. 

White Dwarf Stuff up!

Rumours are floating about that this months WD will apparently not include the Chaos Warriors insert with the new rules and errata to the army book for the new units (like the Daemons insert) as it did not arrive in time to be despatched with the WD.

Now this should only affect WD in Australia/NZ, not UK, Europe, and USA. 

From what I have been told we won't see the insert in Australasia until Decembers WD is released! If this is true, thats pretty poor GW...

I hope this is all not true, but if so, I hope GW post up a PDF to download from their website ASAP!

Guardcon 2012 - Battle Reports Day 1

After suffering a flat tyre on the 2 hour drive to the airport, which resulted in me arriving at the airport with less than 3 minutes to spare for checking in, then finding out that the flight was delayed for half an hour, I could see this weekend being an eventful one. I arrived in Auckland and checked in to my hotel which turned out to have a great view of the Auckland City Sky Tower, the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere. At least I would be able to find my way back easily!

The next morning after a short 10 minute walk I found my way over to the events centre for the tournament.

Game 1 – Wood Elves – Nick Irvine

Scenario: Battleline

Nick bought along a typical Wood Elf list for these parts, mixing up 6 treekin, a few units of glade riders, some dryads, wild riders, way watchers, some warhawks, BSB, eagle, lord and a level 4 beasts mage. It looked like an annoying list to fight, what with wood elves having range and manoeuvrability advantages over my desert skittles. My deployment was pretty standard with Tomb guard in the centre, chariots on a flank, archers in support and artillery in the rear. I didn’t go in with much of a plan, thinking I can edge the archers into range and just try outshoot Nick. What I failed to take into account is I only had 40 normal archers, not the 90 I have used before vs woodies.

Turn one started off with some exchange of ranged fire. I dropped my catapults on his treekin and was rewarded with setting a few on fire. Our exchange of bowfire resulted in me loosing a few skittles where my return fire was mostly out of range. I concentrated on killing his eagle and warhawk riders as Nick had positioned them to charge my priest second turn. Casket of souls bounced around a little and my flank was threatened by Nicks wild riders.

Turn two forced me to reform to face the wild riders, and bring some archers about to deal with the waywatchers on my flank. My catapults scored another direct hit killing a couple more treekin. I concentrated my caskets on the waywatchers as they threatened my war machines. I positioned my chariots to make a charge on the dryads hoping to tie them up and protect my ranged firepower. Nick moved the wild riders in further though I am not sure why, as they came right into charge range of the Tomb Guard. His treekin moved up aswell and I suffered more casualties from ranged fire. At this point I believe I had lost two horse archer units.

My turn three and once again the accuracy of the scatterpults where amazing, reducing the treekin to a lone warrior with a wound on him. I didn’t charge the wild riders realising they would just pull me out of position. The chariots however I threw into a suicide charge into the dryads to reduce numbers. In turn I received a charge from the wildriders, however the treekin failed to make it into the same combat. Most of my magic was concentrated on killing the way watchers. The wild riders where broken and ran, but I failed to catch them. I am still uncertain why they charged as they had no hope vs a block of 40 Tomb Guard. If the treekin where full strength It may have been a good combat. The chariots take a chunk out of the dryads but I loose one first round. The Dryads are stubborn in the woods and hold, so loose another one in the second round.

Turn four is next and neither of us has made much impact. I drop the final skull on the treekin wiping them out. Magic and shooting finally take their toll and reduce the waywatchers numbers down to 2. Nicj spilts them up in his turn to create two targets and avoid a lot of my firepower. Nick rallies the wild riders and they dance around me aswell. The chariot dies to the dryads but there is only a few left now. I whittle down his archers some more. Nick cops a miscast resulting in a dimensional cascade, however gets away with taking just one wound.

Turn five starts with some basic manoeuvring about but Nick is clearly superior in this aspect of the game. I wipe out the dryads to some shooting but loose a ten man archer unit to his return bowfire. I try and get as many shots onto the units in behind my lines but with little success. I spend my magic phase and the rest of my shooting phase failing to cause any wounds on them, even to the point of firing a catapult which all of a sudden mysteriously looses its accuracy! However Nick achieves just as little.

Turn six and the last round of what is an uneventful game. My luck has fled me and a successive series of bad dice rolls sees me fail to kill off the waywatchers, lord, and wildriders… With not much left to do the game ends with a minor win to me, but only just

11-9 to my desert Prince

In the aftermath I had some terrible luck in the ends turns. Failing to clear out potentially 7-800 points, all of which I only needed to cause 2 or 3 wounds total to finish them off wasn’t the best outcome. My head wasn’t in the game and I went off in search of some caffeine, sugar and my luck baseball cap. It could have been worse. I could have lost to the tree huggers!

Game 2 – Empire – Rory Finnemore

Blood and Glory

I hadn’t played Rory before but we had come close at Horned Rat earlier in the year however. Rory had bought along his breathers for me to turn into corpses. He had a steam tank, single cannon, helblaster, a unit of crossbowmen, 3 chochobo riders and a huge unit of 15+ inner circle knights loaded with all of his characters, including a wizard, priest, general, and BSB. Interesting, and by interesting I immediately knew what needed to be done. Magic/catapult off the steam tank, shoot the crap out of the chickens, and draw Rory into a fight with my Tomb Guard.

I chose the table sides and picked up the one with a building about a third into my left side. This would help hold my flank. I set up with this in mind, with the standard chariot on the flank, Tomb Guard centre, archers holding their flanks and artillery at the rear. Rory deployed his knights front and centre, chickens on my right flank opposite the Ushabti, and crossbowmen with a level 2 mage opposite my chariots. I won first turn roll off.

Turn one was a pearla! Some fiddly manoeuvring about to get some angles right was all of my movement. I cast light of death on the chickens first up, which Rory let though? It managed to take out a Chochobo rider and then bounced to his knights which shook it off, it then bounced to the steamtank causing a few wounds, then bounced to the canon causing 2 more wounds, then the hellblaster suffered 3 removing it from play! The only unit I didn’t effect was the crossbowmen, except they decided their little hearts weren’t in it and ran from the carnage… Ouch. The Ushabti caused a few wounds on the chickens and my catapults managed a further wound on the steamtank. I used my horse archers to clean up the last wound on the cannon. Rory put 2 wounds on a catapult with his steam tank. Not to be outdone by my massive first turn magic, Rory casts a comet centred near my Tomb Guard, archers and Hierophant bunker. When I say outdone, I’m referring to killing Rorys army, as he proceeded to miscast and blow himself up, taking out the back rank of knights thanks to a bunch of st10 hits! The rest of his army moved up the board and the crossbowmen found faith in Sigmar again returning to the fight.

Turn two started with me positioning some horse archers in the way of everything. I moved my chariots forward to work up to a charge on the crossbowmen. Archery fire spent its time working on the knights and chochobos as did my caskets, although Rory put some effort into shuting them down this time. The steamtank piles on up and fires its cannon at my catapults but falls short. Rory moves his knights around and indicates that he thinks his only chance now is to commit 100% thanks to my overwhelming ranged firepower. It is nice to know the underlying build is having the right effect. By the end of turn two the stage is set for a showdown between deathstars.

Turn three begins with me declaring a charge with my chariots vs Rorys crossbowmen. A stand and shoot does little but I do loose a chariot to a dangerous terrain test! I place a unit of horse archers in the war of Rorys Knight bus so that they have to charge them, and if they do, they expose a flank unless they combat reform. My magic was of little effect this turn, but I did manage to get a smiting off on the Ushabti, which had moved into occupying a building, along with their banner. They proceeded to shoot the last chicken off the board securing the flank. The chariots rammed home cause a lot of casualties but Rory held on thanks to steadfast rule. Rory charged my horse archers with the Knight bus and reformed to face my Tomb Guard Hoard. He was now committed stopping only a few inches away infront of me. The comet comes down in the magic phase and causes a few wounds here and there, but nothing that worries me much that I can’t heal back. His steam tank also ran over some skittles on my left flank after I managed to take another chunk of wounds off it.

Turn four starts the showdown. The Tomb Guard now charge into the Knights, thus denying him any lance bonuses. The Ushabti pepper the steam tank with missile fire as do my catapults, reducing down to 2 or 3 wounds. Rory has had a unit of outriders hiding behind a hill all game so I move my remaining horse archers up to start shooting it. There is nowhere left to hide. The magic phase is good and I manage to get a smiting off on the Tomb Guard, but miss the cursed blades, which is dispelled. The two remaining chariots slog it out causing a few more wounds, and Rory manages to fluff all the return blows. He then fails his stubborn break test and I run them down. Moving over to the key combat we start slogging it out. There is a bunch of characters in the front rank which is annoying for me as they are all high WS and I did not manage to roll any 6’s to KB any. Added to that Rory gets some buffs off causing me -1 to hit and other annoying things like that. I do cause a few wounds on the regular knights however and win the combat by a small about. Rory makes his cold blooded Ld check and is ok, thanks to his Hero...

Turn five begins with not much left to do but work on the combat between Deathstars. I shoot the outriders some more with little success, and manage to miss with both catapults on the steamtank. Infact I think one misfired at this point and blew itself up. Magic phase was filled up with me trying to buff the Tomb Guard. I get fail to get cursed blades off again but smiting persists. Another slog out and the combat is a minor win for Rory thanks to some tooled up characters. He dosn’t have many knights left anymore and his L4 mage has to step up into the fighting rank. Omnomnomnom. In rorys turn the Steam tank comes to the party to add its weight to combat. Rory starts buffing his knight block with all sorts of annoying spells again. The result is close to a draw, however I manage to put a few wounds on the L4 mage and reduce his knights down to champion and banner. I’m down to 2.5 ranks now and loosing attacks.

Last turn, and I am already up on VP. With little to do except try shoot some outriders we move quickly into magic where I finally get cursed blades off. This round of combat is decisive as I manage to move my Prince across to the steam tank and kill it, along with landing killing blows on all Rory’s characters! He fails his ward saves for his general and almost the entire unit is wiped out in a single round, netting me his BSB, mage, and Priest. His unit champion survives and runs away denying me the 400 odd vps for the unit. This pretty much ends the game and nets me a major victory. 

Result 19-1 to me ol’ bones

Rory confirmed afterwards that he made the decision early to commit, as both of us had to break the others death star to stand a chance at a win thanks to the scenario. We talked about this a bit and I mentioned that was exactly what I wanted. I had deployed the rest of my army to attempt to draw/bait his main block into a protracted, yet unsupported combat grind which I knew the odds where in my favour. Rory was pretty unlucky with my first turn but that’s what happens when you let through light of death uncontested!

Game 3 – Chaos Warriors – Ross Hillier-Jones

Objectives

This scenario is based around objectives place at 18” intervals along the centreline of the table. At the beginning of the game, after both armies have deployed a randomly determined objective is removed leaving two. Each is worth an additional 400vp and can only be captured by infantry 9inc monstrous infantry). When I looked at Ross’s list I wondered if he had read the player pack, as he turned up with only one unit that could claim the objectives! Ross and I had played a few times before. Last game was Equinox where we fought last round for podium spots, with my Tomb Kings eventually coming out on top with a 13-7 win. Ross bought along a knight bus, frenzied warrior block, disc lord and helcanon. A few dogs and marauder horsemen rounded out his mix.

Deployment followed the rules for battleline and we both deployed out plays. My Tomb Guard went front and centre as to allow me to quickly redeploy to contest all three objectives, not knowing which would be real. I then ensured each objective on the flanks had 2 units that could capture them. Ross deployed similarly front and centre supporting his warriors with knights on one flank, and helcanon on the other. My plan was to redirect the frenzied warriors out of contention and make a play for both objectives. His army was supported by a pair of shrines.

Turn one was won by me, and objectives where revealed to be centre and left. This was great as my deployment favoured these two. My chariots where on my right which would make a great flank denial unit in this match up. I started by moving up aggressively on both objectives and holding back on my right. My artillery targeted his helcanon, scoring a direct hit, but rolling only 1 for multiple wounds. I shot off some dogs and marauder horsemen and targeted the knights with the Ushabti. Magic was a case of casket of souls hitting the knights and helcannon. I scored a few knights but the helcannon shrugged it off. Ross also move up aggressively trying for early pressure no doubt. The helcanon got a hit on a catapult, but caused only 2 wounds. His disc lord got to 24” range of my Tomb Guard an attempted to gateway them, which I promptly shut down.

Turn two started with me putting pressure on the left which resulted in an uncontested flank as I shot up the marauders and dogs there. There was a building in between his knight and the flank which I put the Ushabti in. This gave them good range to target his disc lord, successfully putting the first wound on him. My Tomb guard stayed their place changing face to ensure any charge from the knights would be to the front. I then placed some horse archers infront of the warriors to redirect them away from the objective. Magic then seen me target the knights with my casket of souls, which vastly reducing their number, but my catapults failed to find the mark. Ross charge the horse archers in his turn with the warriors, but didnt committed his Knights into my Tomb Guard. The resulting combat would have been rather brutal for the knights. Ross got a gateway through and I nervously watched as he rolled for strength. Seven! Thank Ptra, an 11 or 12 could have lost me the game. I lost about a dozen Tomb Guard, but no big deal.

Turn three comes about and I move my Ushabti out of the building and behind his knights. One of my skittle archer units scoops up the objective on my left and then moves into the building that the Ushabti had just vacated. One of my catapults manage a hit whilst the other decides its had enough and falls to bits. The hit manages to cause a few more wounds, so I fire the Ushabti into it and finish it off. I target his Sorcerer Disc Lord with my caskets and one manages to get through, and with only leadership 8 the surfer gets eaten up by the light, denying my Ushabti another disc scalp! Meanwhile the Tomb Guard had charged into the Knights and proceeded to wipe them out in a single round. Archery peppered the Warrior unit which was running off to the right thanks to frenzy and redirection. The game was almost wrapped up at this point.

Turn four sees me move onto the other objective with my Tomb Guard and threaten the rear of the warriors. The Warshrines are now my targets and take a lot of missile fire in my shooting phase, along with the caskets light of death trying to find their mark. I pick up one of them for good measure in the end whilst lining the other up for a 5^th turn charge with my Ushabti. Meanwhile my chariots have found a flank to threaten and the Warriors are now pretty much surrounded and about ready to be crushed. However unfortunately Ross got the call from the Mrs and had to bail. A quick calculation and I already had over 3000vps and lost about 160, with almost no chance of the Warriors surviving since Ross had lost all his support. The game was wrapped up with a solid victory to me

Result 20-0 to the sands of time.

So after the end of day one, and a  rather slow start I managed to pull it back and finish top of the table on day one with 50/60 points. Second top was Simon Kwok and his Ogres with 48/60. Day two would start with us facing off in an adaption of watch tower scenario, called king of the hill. A rather unfortunate turn of events for me as the scenario favoured his army considerably, and Ogres are not exactly a good match up on the best of days. I return to my hotel and start paying homage Ptra. He advises me the Sky City Casino is better off to receive my patronage…  

Call to Arms - Battle Reports Day 2 - Games 4 & 5

Game 4 – Chaos Warrior’s – Hamish Gordon

Scenario: Watchtower

Day two started with me facing another Chaos Warriors army. The draw had gone up the previous day so we all had the night to prepare for the second days first match. The scenario being watchtower, one of my armies favorites.

Hamish’s force consisted of two large units of Chaos Knights. These will be enemy no.1. If these things got into my lines it would ruin my party. They where backed up by a block of Khorne Warriors, a block of Tzeentch Warriors, A Sorcerer Lord on Disc, BSB, Hellcanon, and Festus. Interesting. Although the list lacked the usual War Altars, it did have an interesting combo with Festus passing on his 5+ regeneration roll. The Disc lord was taking Tzeentch lore, and Hamish rolled Gateway… A spell that I did not want to see.

Hamish won the roll off and occupied the watchtower with his Khorne Warriors, something I was hoping for. I could easily shoot these guys out within a few turns and take the tower in the later stages of the game. The rest of Hamish’s force was split up on either flank of the tower, with both knight units on my left, and his Tzeentch block to my right. The Hellcanon went centre with the Lord, presumably trying to hide from my catapults.

I deployed my forces to hard counter the tower, as it was worth 600vp for this game. Khalidas archers went centre with catapults and caskets to the rear. My knights held my right flank and the horse archers went left to get in the way of the Chaos Knights, and knowing I automatically had first turn, I deployed one unit 12” away from both of them.

A plan? Shootem of course! I would start with Khalida shooting the tower, caskets and Ushabti target the Knights, catapults hit the Helcannon or tower, and Knights hold the right threatening the Tzeentch warriors flank if they advanced into the tower. The horse archers would simply get in the way as they should. I decided on some priomary targets and secondary targets for all units to maximize the potential impact. I liked the plan, as long as I could contain and deal with the Chao Knights.

Turn one starts well. I predominantly hold back as I only need to make centre table which I can do in the later stages of the game. My Necroknights angle it up and I show Hamish my hand early with them as I want him to consider the threat to his flank. Magic. Well. I roll up a good number of dice and 2 dice an irresistible light of death, which targets his knights, killing 4. It then bounces to the other unit and takes three of them. Hamish shuts down the next casket, but not before smiting goes off on the Ushabti. Khalidas archers remove a bunch of Chaos Warriors from the tower. The Ushabti add their weight to the turkey shoot, targeting his Lord on Disc. They chip off two wounds and the catapults manage 3 wounds on the Hellcannon. One is not in LOS so he drops a rock on the Disc Lord. I get a direct hit but Hamish saves the wound with his 3+ ward. Good Start!. Hamish charges into his first turn and hits the horse archers who where so conveniently angled infront of his Knights. There killed and he overruns out to the far right thanks to my redirect. His tower lads cant do squat this turn thanks to the scenario, but the Tzeentch boys shuffle over towards the tower. His Disc Lord goes and hides behind the tower, but remains 24” from my Necroknights. Hmm, wonder what he is planning… Yup. Gateway on the Necroknights. But I am having none of this, and throw all my dice at it and dispel it easily. His Helcannon then manages to put 2 wounds on one of my catapults.

After a great turn one start I feel I am in a good position. I stick to my plan and move another horse archer unit into assume a redirect position. I get the angle happening on my Knights a little by moving them half an inch backwards, just to force Hamish to expose his Disc Lord. I move the Ushabti up towards the tower as I plan on them occupying it after Hamish looses it. Yes I am that confident at this point. A 6 dice vs 2 magic phase sees me get another casket off on the Knights, reducing one unit down to one model, then bouncing to the other and leaving three in it. The other casket targets the tower, whilst Hamish try’s shutting down smiting without success. In my shooting phase Khalida targets the tower this turn with smiting in effect, and with the help of a catapult, leaves 1 warrior behind. The Ushabti target the 3 Knights and kill two, leaving Hamish with 2 units of 1 knight. The other catapult misfires and cant shoot this turn. Hamish now bails from the tower, presumable trying to save VP’s. I believe he will try and take the tower later in the game with his Tzeentch warriors. He also pulls back his now one man Knight units to attempt to get them out of range of the caskets. His lord dosnt take the bait but gets himself well out of LOS. In his magic phase he targets my other catapult with a nurgly spell (I forget which one) and targets my full health catapult. It’s a stonethower type shot and manages to clip and put two wounds on the other catapult. His Hellcannon misses however.

As turn three rolls around I take the tower with the Ushabti. This I believe was a mistake, as I have a tendency to enter the tower too early, however there was so many tempting targets and I wanted to deny the Tzeentch Warriors the opportunity.  Khalidas band moved up into range of the Tzeentch duders, as my Knights failed their charge into his flank. In my magic phase I try my hand at caskets again. Hamish shuts down the first but the second goes off. Ive targeted the knights again but this time he makes his Ld test. I get a smiting off on the Ushabti which then turn Hamishes Disc Lord into a pin cushion. Heh. These guys are great! Khalida makes a small mark on the Tzeentch warriors but both catapults miss their mark this time. Hamish now charges the building with Festus and his Tzeentch Warriors. His knights run away some more and the Hellcannon stays put. In his magic phase he double6’s on two dice the stone thrower spell again but it scatters wide. The miscast has no I’ll effect on him however as regeneration saves the wound. His Helcannon has better luck and kills a catapult. The Tzeentch Warriors now make their mark, accounting for a couple of Ushabti, with me loosing a further one from Combat res.

Turn 4 starts with the realization that I may have committed to the tower to early, as is usual for me. I figure they can hold for one more turn then I will swap them out for Khalidas Archers. I will also position the Knights in a batter place to regain the flank as a backup plan to pin the Tzeentch Knights and deny him the watchtower. My horse archers are off chasing the Chaos Knights and the last Khorne warrior who had run and hid behind the Helcannon.  The Ushabti Kill one of the Chaos Knight units off and Khalidas archers take there toll on the Tzeentch warriors. Hamish then charges into the tower again and rolls very well. He takes 3 Ushabti out with the last two crumbling after they fluff most of their attacks. Hmm. Not good. Hamish has just managed a 1000 vp swing in his favour and likely tying up the game at this point.

So turn 5 sees me reassessing the situation. I was not expecting the Tzeentch Warriors to gain the tower on turn 5. My Necroknights where now of no use in this fight so then plowed on ahead to tackle the Helcannon, as if I couldn’t remove the Warriors out of the tower, I would need all that I can get. I used a casket to pick off the last Chaos Knight and try for smiting, which is dispelled. The other casket makes itself felt on the watchtower. My last catapult targets the tower causing a few casualties, and thanks to flaming, negates his regeneration. Khalida then maks a big hole in the warriors and reduces the number down. Hamish still holds the tower and its going to be down to the wire on turn six. Theres not a lot Hamish can do in his turn, with the helcannon missing the Necroknights and magic being of no I’ll effect.

Last turn! By my figures the game is sitting on a narrow win for me based on vp’s as the tower is worth 600 in this scenario. However, I know I need a big win to keep me in contention at the top of the table, and keep any chance of a podium finish. With this in mind I did not believe a charge by the Necroknights would wipe out the Warriors in the tower. I had to rely on magic and shooting, meaning I could not capture the tower for my own. Instead the Knights charged the Hellcannon. I rolled up a respectable number of dice and threw everything I had at the tower. Khalidas staff, 2 caskets and a smiting all got through making a serious dent into them. Shooting had me use the horse archers to clean up the last Khorne Warrior netting me much needed vp’s. I shot the catapult first netting me some kills, and more importantly no regeneration. The 10 man unit was next and managed to snag a warrior, reducing the number to less than 5 rank’n file. Khalida was up next, and thanks to smiting, easily accounted for about 24 wounds, enough to wipe out the unit. The game then ended when the Necroknights finished off the Helcannon in combat with a plethora of poison hits. Hamish finished the game tabled but nobody held the watchtower.

17-3 to Khalidas Archers!

This game really showed how well Khalida could perform in the right situation. It is a stark contrast to the game against Basils VC where she accomplished nothing. Skittle of the match defiantly goes to the Casket of Souls! They accounted for both Knight units (with a little help from the Ushabti) and caused a ton of damage to units occupying the watchtower. Hamish’s Ld 8 did not help him in this respect. The Ushabti once again bagged themselves another Chaos Disc Sorcerer, proving their worth and gaining them a honorable mention. I did make the mistake again committing to early to the watchtower. This cost me a 20-0 win and lost me the Ushabti. I was to worried about Festus and his unit gaining a foothold into the tower and completely forgot that my catapults (I only had one left at this point) where flaming and would essentially ignore him. Still I gained another Disc Sorcerer scalp so it wasn’t a total loss. Hamish’s list I think was the stronger of the two vs mine based on the greater speed and higher armour overall. The lack of War Alters didn’t seam to be missed at all with his force. The win was enough to put me into 2^nd overall and a face off with current board leader Sam Whitt! He had just narrowly beaten Tom Dunn’s Daemons this round in a very tooth and nail fight. It was boiling down to being a fight between us three for the top step.

Game 5 – Orc’s and Goblin’s – Sam Whitt

Scenario: Battleline

Sam had forgotten something this tournament. He had forgotten his Chaos Dwarfs! I was so looking forward to Khalida turning his K’daai into the biggest pincushion in the old world! Alas, Sam had changed it up and bought along his other love, (Savage) Orc’s and (Night) Goblin’s, complete with Big’Un Bus and more chaff than most could handle. Some people really underestimate how well an OnG list can perform with the right hands at the helm. I know this first hand as I campaigned last year with a similar list to what Sam had made and got a 1^st, 3^rd and 5^th with them at tournaments.

Worst case scenario his Savage Orc Big un’s make contact with Khalida. Best case I get 3 turns of roasting them with poisoned archers.

Sam had 2 Wolf chariots, a Boar chariot, a lone troll and another mob of 8, 2 manglers, a pump wagon, 2 rock lobbers, 2 doom divers, 3 bolt throwers, a large mob o Night Goblins and or course his Savage Orc Bus, or SOB. He complimented this all with an Orc Warboss, Savage Orc Shaman (L4), Night goblin shaman and Black Orc BSB. Damn that’s a lot.

Sam won the roll off for sides and chose the one with the big building half in the deployment zone. There goes that idea. I liked the thought of Khalidas archers holing up in there if things got rough. It was big enough that I probably could have got 25-30 shots per turn. After deployment the table looked favourable. His SOB was behind the building in the centre right, with trolls on the right. He had most of his chaff on the left and opposite most of my stuff. I held the centre with my Necroknights, and deployed Khalida and her archers, the Ushabti and the 10 man archer unit on my left. Both of us deployed artillery to the rear with Sam taking care to set up his Doom Divers out of range of my Catapults. My horse archers had deployed normally to try and get a more favourable deployment. I win roll off for first turn and we get underway.

My first turn started with little in range of Khalida and her archers. I shuffled the Necroknights more towards my right envisaging Sam sweeping through the middle of the board with his trolls and SOB. This way I would be able to threaten his flank meaning he would need to deal with the threat, hopefully giving my archers more time to work their magic. I ran 2 of my horse archers up my right to threaten the doom divers for a turn 2 charge. I used a casket to try zap a doom diver, and the other to chain up his chaff which is mostly out of generals Ld range but both got shut down. Smiting went off on the Ushabti, which in turn shot a mangler off the table. Sam informs me that his manglers have not made it to the enemy all weekend. I was determined not to be the first. I also shoot up a snotling pump wagon and land a direct hit on a rock lobber killing it and ending my turn. Sam moves his SOB into the building, and pushes all his chaff forward. This is a target rich environment! The trolls bumble forward to the right flank of the building along with his boar chariot. Sam rolls up a few dice and in great Orcy fasion, declares a BIG Foot of Gork! With only 2 dispel dice I use my scroll early to stop it. Sams doom divers and a bolt thrower account for one of the horse archer units, whilst his rock lobber misses.

Turn two sees me with plenty of targets. My only real moves are to charge a bolt thrower with my remaining horse archer unit on my right, and another bolt thrower on my left with the other unit. The Knights shuffle over more close to the table edge. Magic rolls low and I only get off Khalidas staff, zapping the other mangler. Khalidas unit takes care of a lone troll and the Ushabti make little impact this turn. I do land another direct hit on the other Rock lobber. That’s 2 for 2! The horse archers take care of their bolt throwers and line up a doom diver on my right, and overrun into a wolf chariot on my left. Sam charges his night goblins forward into my 10 man unit of archers that I had pushed to far forward. They get wiped out in combat. Sam then drops his SOB out of the building bringing it into range of Khalidas archers. I figure I can get 3 turns of shooting into it then finish it off with the knights all going to plan. Magic rolls low again. Sam throws all his dice at Hand of Gork and gets enough, requiring me to roll an 11 on 3 dice. So I roll a 9… and the SOB moves across the board 13” infront of khalidas archers. Ok so maybe one turn of shooting… Sam has some fun with the shooting phase using his DD’s take care of the other horse archer unit. The trolls move up supported by the Orc chariot.

Oh crap. I am in trouble. I start turn three with that heavy sinking feeling. I need to pull one out of the bag and quick. I play around with reforming and moving back but in the end it would just be delaying the inevitable and denying me a chance to shoot. I reform into a wider formation and move 2” back forcing an 11” roll for the SOB. My Ushabti cut across and cover my right flank from the night goblins, and my Hierophant bails out the left side. I toy with the idea of charging the rear of the SOB with my last horse archer unit, but Sam points that since I can’t flee he won’t need to pursue. I get 12 dice in the magic phase vs 6. I cast light of death on one of the Doom Divers to try bait out some dice. I get two, so I cast the other and get some more, but this light of death gets through and I take out one of the Doom Divers. I then get off smiting on the archers but Sam slams it with a scroll. Desiccation also gets shut down which was targeted at the SOB. In my shooting phase I manage to get both catapults on target, both scattering slightly but remaining true. Khalida opens up and all of a sudden Sam is left with 15 Savage Orcs + characters. I have to hope for a failed charge and another round of shooting will see me right. Its now Sams turn and he declares his charges, and the dawn of realisation washes over me as I see the huge mistake I made… Khalidas archers are indeed 15” away from his SOB, however he only needs an 8 to make contact with the Ushabti, and the ensuing overrun will hit my archers. Crap. He rolls the 8 required and brings in the Night Goblins for some netting goodness. The trolls are moved up as is the Boar chariot. Sam works with a few dice and gets Hand of Gork off to move the trolls over. The Ushabti are crushed in combat and crumble allowing the overrun from the SOB into Khalida. The Night Goblins hold and reform.

Turn 4 comes about with a tense situation. The archers could still hold out for the rest of the game. I look at ways to see how I could flank the SOB with the Necroknights, but Sam has placed the Night Goblins well enough to prevent this. I instead charge them. There is little other movement to be made so we move onto magic. I roll a respectable number of dice and start casting with light of death on the other Doom Diver. Sam lets it through so I cast smiting on the archers again with Sam also letting this through. He dispels desiccation on his SOB though. I get the 5+ ward happening to even up the field. My catapults launch into shooting taking out the boar chariot. The other one misfires and destroys itself. We move onto combat with Khalida going first. The combat is slightly skewed with Sam only having 8 models in contact thanks to the overrun. I use my champion to challenge which Sam accepts with his. We both fail to kill each other with me not wounding, and me saving the only wound inflicted on him. Khalida kills 3 or 4 Savage Orcs, and in return Sams characters make short work of several skeletons. The Savage Orcs and Skittles then strike simultaneously with my 5+ ward really coming into itself. I end up inflicting 8 or 9 wounds which Sam only manages to save 2, whilst I saved over half with some tinny rolling much to Sams disappointment. I end up winning the combat by a few but thanks to the crown Sam is stubborn on 9’s. I reform to a deeper formation and so that all of Sams orcs are in combat. Oh yeah, the Necroknights steamroll the Night goblins but they hold. So Sams turn 4 starts with little fanfare, as he only has trolls free to move, everything else is either dead or in combat. We move onto magic where Sam gets through itchy nuisance on my skittles reducing me to I1. My Necroknights destroy the Night Goblins which flee. I elect to pursue which will lead me into combat with the trolls. I need the VP and risk the combat to catch the Goblins, which I do. We move on to the main combat where Khalida makes herself known again and smacks over a bunch more Savage Orcs. Having the frenzy beaten out helps a lot, with the volume of attacks greatly down as is the strength. His characters make up for what the unit was lacking including the champion besting mine in the dual, but I reply with over 40 attacks! Sam is left with a wound on both his BSB and L4 Shaman, and only 2 or 3 Savage Orcs remaining.

Turn 5 would be our last, as time was running out. We both have no movement at all as we where locked in combat, so magic first up. Another ok phase dice wise. This time however Sam is on the money with his dispels. He shuts down everything bar smiting on my archers. We roll around combat in which Khalida finishes off the last few Savage Orcs. Once again Sam bashes a bunch of skittles into powder but cant with the combat. The trolls have more success vomiting on my Knights. He gets 4 wounds and I loose the combat taking another wound. Not so bad, but I would have preferred some magic buffs. In the last turn there is not much to do. Sam has 6 trolls and his 3 Orc characters left, two of which are wounded. His magic phase was low and was easily shut down, as Sam had only one spell that he could cast. I move Khalida over to face off his Savage Orc Shaman which had been wounded. With lightning speed Khalida dispatches her rival with little effort. The rest of the skittles have little effect on Sams characters, but once again Sam makes his stubborn check. The trolls have more success killing another Knight, and forcing enough combat result to crumble another. The game ends with a victory in my favour.

15-5 to Tomb Kings

Now this was a hard fought battle. I really thought Sam had me on Turn three. He managed to shut down the right spells at the right time and push through the ones he needed. Baiting out my scroll first turn was a good move. I made several mistakes in this game. The first was using my horse archers offensively to attack Sams artillery. I did this thinking that Khalidas archers would be able to deal with Sams SOB over the 3 turns he would need to cover the gap. I didn’t count on Sam getting a Hand of Gork off! Lesson learnt, stick to the plan. The horse archers primary role is to get in the way of threats to Khalida, and I needed to stick to that. My next big mistake was moving the Ushabti forward to block the Night Goblins. I didn’t need to do this and it very nearly cost me the game. In fact I will go as far as saying this move cost me an 18+ victory. I know at the time I was ensuring covering Khalida from the night gobos, but did not see the obvious until it was too late. Skelly of the match is a hard one. The catapults did great this match, accounting for much artillery and a chariot. The caskets had a good hand in drawing out dispel dice which allowed me to get though the right spells, and Khalida pretty much saved the day by killing a bunch of Savage Orcs and Sams Shaman. So it goes to Khalida, even though I only got one real round of shooting off. This game marked the first time I had used the archers in combat, and it turn out ok. But only just

With the 15-5 result that put me on the top step, shared with Tom Dunn and His Daemons. We both finished with 74 battle points, 25/25 for sports and full marks for painting. Tom had a great final game finishing with a 20-0 win to share top honors. Sam finshed 2nd, after holding the limelight for most of the weekend, and almost putting to bed the day to jitters he suffers.

Thanks to Wellington Warlords for hosting the event and Peter Dunn for Umpiring. Good weekend by all and even the news channels turned up. (Like the good little wargamers we are, we all went and hid from the cameras whilst volunteering an unsuspecting fellow gamer for an interview!)